Mahsoob, Estidkhaar and Muhaarar will each be tested at July Festival at Newmarket

The July Festival could well be the meeting at which Paul Hanagan and Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Shadwell operation hit top gear in Europe as several horse will be in action over the next three days, reports Geoffrey Riddle.

Jockey Paul Hanagan rides Muhaarar, right, to a win at the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Gimcrack Stakes at York Racecourse in York, England. (Photo by Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images)

The July Festival at Newmarket could well be the meeting at which Paul Hanagan and Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Shadwell operation hit top gear in Europe.

Over the next three days they pitch Mahsoob in to Thursday afternoon’s Group 2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes and Estidkhaar attempts to get his season back on track in the Sir Henry Cecil Stakes on Friday.

On Saturday, Hanagan will partner Muhaarar, who runs alongside the Minister of Finance’s Muthmir, in the Group 1 July Cup over 1,200 metres.

Muhaarar provided Sheikh Hamdan with his first European Group 1 winner of the season when he dipped over half a second under standard time in winning the inaugural Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last month.

Because of the exploits of Mike de Kock’s Majmu, Entisaar and Ertijaal in South Africa it was a fourth victory at the top level in all for Sheikh Hamdan this year.

If all goes well on the July Course on Thursday, Mahsoob could head to Ascot at the end of the month after he was among the 16 horses that went forward for the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Britain’s midsummer highlight.

Mahsoob is unbeaten in four career starts, the latest an impressive victory in the Wolferton Handicap at Royal Ascot, a 13-runner Listed race over 2000 metres.

Following that run trainer John Gosden and Hanagan both found it impossible to hide the esteem in which they hold Mahsoob.

The three-year-old colt has been press-ganged in to service today as much to give him more experience and to prove he stays the 2,400m distance of the King George, a race Sheikh Hamdan, Gosden and Hanagan won with Taghrooda last year.

Mahsoob hit the finishing line at Royal Ascot as if he needed stepping up in distance and Hanagan is relishing riding the colt over farther.

“He is so laid back,” Hanagan said. “He has such a wonderful temperament and nothing really fazes him.

“He has the class for a mile-and-a-quarter [2000m] but we will probably see the best of him over a couple of furlongs further.

“It would be pretty hard to compare to Taghrooda but he feels he has so much left in the tank.”

It will not be an easy assignment. Sir Michael Stoute’s Gospel Choir has won five of his seven victories over 2,400m.

Stoute has won the race five times in the past decade and will also run Hillstar.

Dubai Sheema Classic sixth Sheikhzayedroad is also among the final field of eight.

Hanagan has ridden Muhaarar five times but Dane O’Neill was aboard the colt at Ascot because Hanagan had chosen to ride Adaay, who was seventh, in the race.

“It was a tough decision,” Hanagan said. “Adaay gave me a proper feel that day [at Haydock in May] and I would have struggled to get off him.

“It is frustrating because I won the Gimcrack last year on Muhaarar and in that race he took forever to get going, and that made me think he wanted to go further.

“But when they go such a gallop over six furlongs [1,200m] it really suited him.”

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